Shakshuka

Shakshuka is an Israeli egg dish.  I decided to make this because according to our statistics someone from Israel has viewed our blog (yes, dear readers we have gone global).  I meant to make this recipe last week to mark Chanukah the Jewish festival of lights. Also, I used to eat this recipe all the time when I was in India (there are many Israeli people backpacking in India) and I loved it and have not eaten it since.

There has been much work related stresses this week and we have therefore taken a long time to welcome the world this morning.  I have practically had to drag Alan out of bed at two thirty in the afternoon. We are, therefore, eating a very late breakfast. Shakshuka is a strong, bold, spicy recipe to kick start one into the day when feeling a little melancholy.

Ingredients

1x tin cherry tomatoes
6 cloves of garlic
1x onion
1/2 tea spoon cumin
1/2 tea spoon paprika
pinch sugar
handful chopped parsley
pinch of fresh sage
4x eggs
salt and pepper

N.B I decided to use cherry tomatoes because whilst watching Nigella Lawson on I Player this week she described them as the strappy high heels of tinned tomatoes and I was curious to try, and yes Nigella I agree they are indeed the strappy high heels of tinned tomatoes.

1. soften onions before adding garlic and then after a few minutes add the spices and cook for another few minutes before adding the tomatoes.

2.  Add half cup of water and some tomato puree and simmer for 1/2 hour

3. After half hour take from heat and add the parsley before transferring the mixture into for small ramekins and crack an egg onto each ramekin.

4. Pour boiling water into an oven dish enough to cover the bottom and transfer the ramekins into the oven tray and bake for about twenty minutes on a medium heat.

Marking Category	Hannah	Alan
Presentation	4	4
Innovation	3.5	2.5
Quality of egg	1	1
Taste	3.5	3
Total	12	10.5

Comment's

Hannah-I loved this recipe. Unfortunately, due to getting distracted I left the eggs in the oven for too long, thus, compromising the quality of eggs.  The yolks were tough like bullets! This, however, did not ruin the dish for me because it brought back such fond memories, of a time when deciding where to have breakfast each morning constituted a pretty big decision, a time where one could spend two hours over breakfast.  In India I used to eat a little pot of humus with this dish.  The use of tinned cherry tomatoes provided a lovely sweet flavour against the earthy spiciness of the other flavours.  There are many different versions of this reciepe.  You can even scramble the egg against the tomatoes.  I made this reciepe just using ingredients that I had at home (apart from the cherry tomatoes which I purchased especially).

Alan- Super Idea, but, unfortunately the eggs were a bit too hard.

Lastly I would like to say a big thank you to Jeeves and Bertie Woorster who have helped make a stressful week more bearable.  What supportive chaps.

Tally Ho Chums